Question: If the sales tax in your city is $9.7\%$, how much tax would you pay for an item that costs $\$8$ before tax? Round to the nearest cent.
Answer: In order to find the amount of sales tax you would pay, multiply the sales tax by the original price of the item. ${9.7\%} \times {\$8} =$ Percent means "out of one hundred," so $9.7\%$ is equivalent to $9.7 \div 100$ $9.7 \div 100 = 0.097$ Multiply the sales tax you just converted into a decimal by the original price to find the amount of sales tax that must be paid. Round to the nearest cent. $0.097$ $\times$ $$8$ = $$0.78$ You would pay $$0.78$ in sales tax.